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AMLI Lofts, at 850 S Clark St in the South Loop, consists of two L-shaped 11-story buildings with a total of 398 apartments, 280 parking spaces and 5,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.
Construction began in spring of 2013 and first occupancies started in summer 2014. AMLI Development is the developer and NORR is the architecture firm.
The apartments
AMLI Lofts has convertible, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. There are 255 one-bedrooms, 141 two-bedrooms, 1 studio and one guest suite. Floor plans, rents and near real-time availability are online.
The apartments have a “soft loft” aesthetic with 10-foot high concrete ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, hardwood floor and exposed spiral ductwork.
Kitchens include quartz countertops, undermount sinks, stainless steel GE appliances, expresso or slate gray cabinets and tile backsplashes. All units have in-unit washer / dryers.
The two-bedroom plans have the split-bedroom layout that’s preferred by roommates and people who office from home. Some of the units have private balconies, accent walls and carpeting in the bedrooms.
Views. At 11 stories, AMLI Lofts won’t be a “view property,” but some of the units will offer interesting vistas from view corridors over open space to the east and west.
Amenities, services, policies
The buildings each have a lower level deck with amenities.
The southern building deck includes a swimming pool with lounge seating and an outdoor kitchen with grilling stations.
The northern building deck includes an outdoor lounge with seating areas, outdoor TVs, an outdoor kitchen with built-in grills and a fire pit. Each building has a roof deck and there is an outdoor recreation space and sport court.
Additional amenities include a fitness center with private studio, a 24-hour resident lounge, a kitchen with coffee bar and a tech lounge with private meeting room.
The north building has 5,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.
With 280 parking spaces for 398 units, AMLI Lofts has an unusually high parking ratio among the new downtown apartment buildings. The one-story parking decks compare favorably with the multi-level ones at many high-rises.
AMLI Lofts is smoke-free. The building has on-site leasing, management and maintenance. AMLI Lofts is pet-friendly, subject to limits, and has a dog park. Bicycle storage is available.
The location
AMLI Lofts has a near-Loop location at the edge of the Printers Row neighborhood and the landmark Printing House Row District. It’s within easy walking distance of many of the downtown colleges and universities and cultural attractions.
Clark Street at the property’s location becomes a traffic-friendly raceway whose east side is blighted by a long brick-and-block wall that isolates Dearborn Park from the east-west street grid and magnifies the travel time to many nearby destinations. Metra rail tracks border the property on the west.
Shopping. The nearest full-service grocery, Target, is a few blocks south along Clark St.
Jewel and Trader Joe’s are two blocks east of the Target on Roosevelt Rd and a Whole Foods Market across the river off Roosevelt Rd. All of the locations have parking. Walgreen’s and CVS have nearby pharmacies and there are pharmacies in the Jewel and Target.
There are a number of convenience stores close to AMLI Lofts, including Urban Pantry just to the north on Clark St.
The location has decent access to State Street shops, Roosevelt Collection shops, and the large and growing cluster of big-box stores across the river along Roosevelt Road.
Dining, nightlife. The South Loop isn’t known as a dining destination, but it does have a strong selection of casual, come-back-often neighborhood hangouts that are popular with locals.
AMLI Lofts residents enjoy such nearby favorites as Blackie’s, Hackney’s, Bar Louie and Kasey’s Tavern.
Pizza lovers are a short stroll away from Pat’s (not affiliated with the north side legend), Pauly’s and Lou Malnati’s.
Parks, recreation. Grant Park is less than half a mile east of the property.
Dearborn Park, a tree-shrouded oasis with a fitness course, is around the corner from AMLI, and there’s a pleasant plaza with a small, seasonal farmers market in nearby Printers Row.
The three tennis courts at Roosevelt Park serve up the only active outdoor recreation space in the immediate area.
Transportation. The location is within an easy walk of the CTA Red Line stop at Harrison St and a bit further from the Red, Orange and Green Line stop at Roosevelt Rd.
The LaSalle St Blue Line stop, just northwest of the property, connects to O’Hare Airport. A block further north is the LaSalle / Van Buren stop, serving four CTA lines, including an Orange Line connection to Midway Airport.
Metra’s LaSalle Street Station, serving the south side and south suburbs, is two blocks north of AMLI.
Congress Pkwy, two blocks to the north, provides very convenient access to and from the city’s expressway grid and to Lake Shore Drive.
IGO and zipcar car-sharing locations are nearby. A Divvy bike station is half a block south of the building.
The competition
Rentals are typically available in a number of nearby condo buildings, sometimes at sharply lower rents than in the managed apartment buildings.
You’ll find additional options at YoChicago’s comprehensive South Loop apartment guide.
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